Chris Hamnett | The Guardianhttp://www.theguardian.com/profile/chrishamnett
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Michael Gove's new curriculum: what the experts say | Panelhttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/feb/12/round-table-draft-national-curriculum
What should we teach our children? Subject specialists read the education secretary's national curriculum plans and respond <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/feb/12/round-table-draft-national-curriculum">Continue reading...</a>Education policyEducationCurriculumsPoliticsMichael GoveSchoolsTeachingTue, 12 Feb 2013 07:00:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/feb/12/round-table-draft-national-curriculumGuardianIllustration by Daniel PudlesGuardianIllustration by Daniel Pudles Photograph: GuardianDavid Priestland, Margaret Reynolds, Richard Wentworth, Matt Parker, Yvonne Baker, Chris Hamnett, Nick Byrne2013-02-12T07:00:00ZDavid Starkey is wrong to call Britain a white monoculture | Chris Hamnetthttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2011/nov/23/david-starkey-britain-white-monoculture
Ethnic minority pupils are increasingly dispersing to the suburbs and beyond, changing the makeup of the country as a whole<p>David Starkey can argue until he's blue in the face <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2061809/David-Starkey-row-British-history.html" title="Daily Mail: Starkey: 'Britain is a white mono-culture and schools should focus on our own history' ">that English society is still dominated by a &quot;white monoculture&quot;</a>, but in many of the country's larger cities, the reverse is literally true – as shown by the changing makeup of their schools. Our analysis of Department of Education data that across the entire Greater London secondary school population, white pupils are now in the minority, with more than half of all London's secondary schoolchildren coming from ethnic minority or mixed ethnic backgrounds.</p><p>In some local authorities, mostly in inner London, this has been the case for more than a decade. But by 2009, Greater London, Birmingham, Leicester, Slough and Luton all boasted majority ethnic-minority secondary school systems, with Manchester and Bradford not far behind at 43%. In inner London <a href="http://www.education.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s001012/index.shtml" title="Department for Education: DfE: Schools, Pupils and their Characteristics, January 2011">that figure</a> reached 67%.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2011/nov/23/david-starkey-britain-white-monoculture">Continue reading...</a>British identity and societyRace issuesWorld newsEducationDavid StarkeyCultureUK newsWed, 23 Nov 2011 13:30:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2011/nov/23/david-starkey-britain-white-monocultureSimon Hadley / Rex FeaturesDavid Starkey has said that the national curriculum should involve ‘a serious focus on your own culture’.
Photograph: Simon Hadley / Rex FeaturesSimon Hadley / Rex FeaturesDavid Starkey has said that the National Curriculum should involve 'a serious focus on your own culture'.
Photograph: Simon Hadley / Rex FeaturesChris Hamnett2011-11-23T13:30:00ZChris Hamnett: The Turner review is a wake-up call for bankershttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2009/mar/18/banking-regulators
Some in the financial sector haven't quite got the message yet, but the report by the FSA chairman will focus minds fast<p>Today saw the publication of the <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/mar/18/banking-regulators">long-awaited report by Lord Turner</a>, the chairman of the Financial Services Authority, into the <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/mar/18/turner-report-banking-regulation">causes of the financial crisis</a> and appropriate regulatory responses. </p><p>The <a href="http://www.fsa.gov.uk/pubs/other/turner_review.pdf">Turner review (pdf)</a> provides a clear analysis of the nature of the crisis. It identifies the extremely rapid growth of the financial sector in recent years, the role of increasing leverage or borrowings in increasing risk; the growth of the shadow banking sector, that is to say the various off balance-sheet vehicles, and misplaced reliance on sophisticated mathematical risk models.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2009/mar/18/banking-regulators">Continue reading...</a>BankingRegulatorsFinancial crisisBanks and building societiesEconomic policyBusinessMoneyPoliticsWed, 18 Mar 2009 18:30:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2009/mar/18/banking-regulatorsChris Hamnett2009-03-18T18:30:00ZChris Hamnett: Home truths for mortgage lendershttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/nov/21/mortgages-banks
It may be painful, but strict limits must be imposed on mortgages to maintain trust in the British housing market<p>It is now clear that the <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/housingmarket">housing market</a> has <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2008/nov/10/house-prices-credit-crunch">gone over a cliff</a>. House price and mortgage lending statistics have been heading down for months, negative equity is rising alarmingly and repossessions are forecast to double this year. </p><p>The Bank of England's radical 1.5 percentage point cut in the bank rate will help to reduce mortgage costs for home owners, but the housing market problem in Britain owes a great deal to the reckless policies of some mortgage lenders over the past 10 years. This happened in the late 1980s boom and now it's happened again, driven by demutualisation and competition for market share. As mortgage lenders seem unable to learn from history, government needs to impose rules on lending to prevent another recurrence. </p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/nov/21/mortgages-banks">Continue reading...</a>MortgagesBanks and building societiesBank of EnglandCredit crunchFri, 21 Nov 2008 11:00:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/nov/21/mortgages-banksChris Hamnett2008-11-21T11:00:00ZChris Hamnett: Too much credit to blame for the recessionhttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/nov/08/interestrates-creditcrunch-bankofengland-business-recession
Fundamentally, it was the easy availability of credit that oiled the wheels of the doomed financial vehicles<p>The surprise Bank of England 1.5% cut in interest rates this week indicates the scale of the economic crisis facing the country. But the bi-annual Bank of England <a ref="http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/publications/fsr/2008/fsrfull0810.pdf">Financial Stability Report</a> published last week provided a perceptive and detailed analysis of the underlying causes of the financial crisis which will serve as an invaluable reference for those who want to understand the background in more detail. </p><p>What is revealing is that the Bank of England locates the fundamental causes of the crisis not in the <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2008/may/27/mortgages.debt1">sub-prime mortgage</a> lending problem which began to surface in 2007 (this was just the trigger), but in the rapid global credit boom of the last decade and the fundamental financial and trade imbalances between countries which emerged. High rates of economic growth and high savings rates in south east Asia plus Middle East oil receipts were used to finance trade and budget deficits in western countries. In addition, the growth of cheap exports from China kept down inflation and short-term interest rates. </p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/nov/08/interestrates-creditcrunch-bankofengland-business-recession">Continue reading...</a>Interest ratesBank of EnglandCredit crunchRecessionBusinessBankingEconomicsSat, 08 Nov 2008 13:00:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/nov/08/interestrates-creditcrunch-bankofengland-business-recessionChris Hamnett2008-11-08T13:00:00ZChris Hamnett: We've known for 13 years that assessing risk in an unregulated market is impossiblehttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/nov/01/economics-banking
We've known for 13 years that assessing risk in an unregulated market is impossible<p>Ever since Nick Leeson spectacularly bankrupted Baring's Bank in 1995 as a result of $1.4bn losses on his unauthorised derivative trades there has been a <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/jan/24/europeanbanks.banking">steady stream of similar unauthorised trades</a> and large losses. In 1996 Sumitomo lost $2.6bn on unauthorised copper trades, in 2006 Austria's BAWAG lost $2.4bn from unuthorised currency trading.</p><p>In September 2007 Credit Agricole reported a loss of €250m from unauthorised trades and in January this year Societe Generale lost €4.9bn as a result of €50bn unauthorised trades by Jerome Kerviel. The latest additions to this list came last week when <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/feedarticle/7961856">Groupe Caisse D'Epargne</a>, one of France's biggest mutual savings banks announced losses of €600m from unauthorised equity derivatives trading and <a href="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/b65d9e52-9eaa-11dd-98bd-000077b07658.html">Citic Pacific</a>, based in Hong Kong announced losses of over $1bn from unauthorized currency trading. </p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/nov/01/economics-banking">Continue reading...</a>BusinessEconomicsMoneyBankingSat, 01 Nov 2008 12:00:01 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/nov/01/economics-bankingChris Hamnett2008-11-01T12:00:01ZChris Hamnett: It's not nationalisation by stealthhttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/oct/08/banking.creditcrunch
The rescue plan for Britain's banks will provide support and more capital, but please don't call it nationalisation<p>Today the British government <a href="http://www.advfn.com/p.php?pid=nmona&amp;cb=1223448749&amp;article=28571305">announced</a> its rescue plan to recapitalise British banks by offering to take preference shares in them and offering capital and taking senior debt against a wider range of collateral assets. Robert Peston, the BBC's business editor, has <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/robertpeston/2008/10/banks_most_pressing_problem.html">described</a> this as &quot;nationalisation by stealth&quot;. This has a nice ring to it but it is misleading. </p><p>The term &quot;nationalisation by stealth&quot; implies that the government actively wants to take the banks into partial state ownership and has been planning to do this for some time. The reality is quite different. Nationalisation occurs when a government takes a company into public ownership – and the rescue's of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the American Insurance Group were all reluctant nationalisations as the US government took a 79.9% share in the companies in return for injecting rescue finance. </p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/oct/08/banking.creditcrunch">Continue reading...</a>BankingCredit crunchMarket turmoilBanks and building societiesUK newsWed, 08 Oct 2008 08:15:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/oct/08/banking.creditcrunchChris Hamnett2008-10-08T08:15:00ZChris Hamnett: The credit crisis: it's not over yethttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/oct/06/creditcrunch.housingmarket
The world's banks continue to lack confidence. Which means the UK housing market won't recover any time soon<p>The approval of the US financial bail-out on Friday gives the banking system a welcome respite, enabling the US treasury to buy up distressed mortgage and other loans and thus give the banks a greater degree of liquidity. But the implications of the credit crisis have a very long way to run yet. As Winston Churchill said in 1942: &quot;This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.&quot;</p><p>At the end of last week we saw that the Dutch, Belgian and Luxemberg governments had to step in to effectively take over both <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/oct/06/europeanbanks.europe1">Fortis</a> and Dexia, the troubled banks caught up by overpaying for a slice of ABN-Amro at the peak of the market. The Icelandic government had to step in to take over Glitnir and Kaupthing looks to be in financial difficulties. At the weekend, the <a href="http://uk.reuters.com/article/UKNews1/idUKTRE48R0KS20081005">rescue attempt</a> for Hypo Real Estate, the <a href="http://uk.reuters.com/article/UKNews1/idUKTRE48R0KS20081006">German</a> property lender, had to be redrawn and the government announced it was guaranteeing all savings in an attempt to halt panic. </p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/oct/06/creditcrunch.housingmarket">Continue reading...</a>Credit crunchHousing marketBankingGermanyIcelandUK newsEuropean banksEuropeMon, 06 Oct 2008 16:30:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/oct/06/creditcrunch.housingmarketChris Hamnett2008-10-06T16:30:00ZChris Hamnett: Stop rewarding greedy failureshttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/oct/02/creditcrunch.marketturmoil1
The financial crisis is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to rein in grotesque bonuses<p>Many on the political left frequently talk about the coming &quot;crisis of capitalism&quot;, often with little concealed pleasurable expectation. Well, we are in the midst of one right now and it does not look too pretty. The employees who have lost their jobs at <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/aug/30/northernrock.redundancy">Northern Rock</a>, and <a href="http://ftadviser.com/FinancialAdviser/Mortgages/Lenders/News/article/20081002/915907f4-8e06-11dd-8b12-00144f2af8e8/Job-losses-were-straw-that-broke-BBs-back.jsp">Bradford and Bingley</a> are probably not too happy about it. Nor will the employees at LloydsTSB and HBOS be when the inevitable <a href="http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/news/article.html?in_article_id=452243&amp;in_page_id=2">rationalisation and layoffs</a> begin.</p><p>The reality of contemporary finance capitalism is that it does not simply involve a few banks and bankers. We are all enmeshed in the system to some extent, through our jobs, bank and building society accounts, pensions and ISAs and, if you are a home buyer, through the housing and mortgage market. When the system has a major crisis, it impacts on all of us in one way or another.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/oct/02/creditcrunch.marketturmoil1">Continue reading...</a>MoneyCredit crunchBusinessMarket turmoilFinancial crisisThu, 02 Oct 2008 17:00:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/oct/02/creditcrunch.marketturmoil1Chris Hamnett2008-10-02T17:00:00ZChris Hamnett: The building society is still a viable ideahttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/sep/30/bradfordbingley.banks
Just because the firms that floated on the stock market have now sunk does not mean the building society concept is dead<p>The Alliance &amp; Leicester is about to join the Abbey National in the hands of Santander of Spain and the Northern Rock is already in government hands. HBOS has been taken over by Lloyds TSB. Does the <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/sep/29/bradfordbingley.anking5&quot;">nationalisation of the Bradford &amp; Bingley</a> building society mortgage book mean the <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/sep/29/bradfordbingley.creditcrunch">end of the building society movement</a>? </p><p>The answer to this is a resounding &quot;no&quot;. What we have seen over the past few years is a process in which all the building societies that demutualised and gave payouts to their shareholders and floated on the market have now had to be bailed out or taken over. </p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/sep/30/bradfordbingley.banks">Continue reading...</a>Bradford & BingleyBanks and building societiesMortgagesPropertyCredit crunchMarket turmoilBanco SantanderHBOSLloyds Banking GroupNorthern RockUK newsTue, 30 Sep 2008 08:31:21 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/sep/30/bradfordbingley.banksChris Hamnett2008-09-30T08:31:21ZChris Hamnett: Intervention isn't a dirty wordhttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/sep/25/wallstreet.useconomicgrowth
If capitalism is to thrive, never mind survive, it cannot be left entirely in the hands of the free market<p>I never thought I would find myself in agreement with George Bush. On Friday I did.</p><p><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/sep/19/wallstreet.georgebush"><br />Speaking at the White House</a> on the large scale federal intervention in the financial markets he stated that &quot;government intervention is not only warranted, it is essential…America's economy is facing unprecedented challenges. We're responding with unprecedented measures.&quot; </p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/sep/25/wallstreet.useconomicgrowth">Continue reading...</a>BusinessUS economic growth and recessionEconomic policyCredit crunchUS newsThu, 25 Sep 2008 09:00:01 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/sep/25/wallstreet.useconomicgrowthChris Hamnett2008-09-25T09:00:01ZChris Hamnett: We must rein in short-sellershttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/sep/18/economics.economy
I disagree with Seth Freedman's assessment: it is time to rein in the short-sellers who have ruined our financial institutions<p>The crisis in the financial markets, which is now reaching a peak not seen since the 1930s, is not just the result of poor subprime mortgage lending and the collapse in the price of associated mortgage-backed derivatives. It is also the result of orchestrated short-selling by hedge funds and others seeking to make a fast buck by trying to drive down the share price of financial institutions with exposure to these areas. </p><p><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/sep/18/creditcrunch.wallstreet?commentpage=1">Seth Freedman argues</a> that short-selling is not a problem and that it is simply the parallel to going long. This is not quite true. Selling a stock you own because you think the price is going to fall is one thing. Selling a stock you don't own in the hope or expectation that its price will fall is quite another. It also begs the question of where sellers get the stock to sell. Letting the markets work is all very well when its business as normal but when they threaten the stability of the system, new rules are needed. The idea that government should stand idly by while short-sellers target another victim to make a profit is simply not on in current circumstances</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/sep/18/economics.economy">Continue reading...</a>Short-sellingEconomicsEconomic policyMarket turmoilLehman BrothersMerrill LynchBusinessBankingWorld newsUS newsThu, 18 Sep 2008 15:05:44 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/sep/18/economics.economyChris Hamnett2008-09-18T15:05:44ZChris Hamnett: Squeezing the taxpayerhttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/sep/15/creditcrunch.lehmanbrothers
Why have executives who lost huge sums of money been rewarded so handsomely?<p>We are now more than a year into the credit crunch caused by excessive lending on sub-prime mortgages and the credit derivatives packaged and sold by the banks. Losses continue to mount up. The banks (Citibank, UBS, RBS), the investment banks (Lehman Bros, Bear Sterns, Merrill Lynch) have between them lost hundreds of billions of dollars.<br />Several have already gone under and had to be taken over (Bear Sterns, Northern Rock, a dozen American regional banks, Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae) or sold to those with deeper pockets (Alliance &amp; Leicester). </p><p>This weekend has seen the startling news that Lehman Bros is <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/sep/15/marketturmoil.stockmarkets">preparing for bankruptcy</a> and that Bank of America has agreed to buy Merrill Lynch for $50bn in an opportunistic bid for a company weakened by toxic loans. The question is who is next? Washington Mutual, American Insurance Group? </p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/sep/15/creditcrunch.lehmanbrothers">Continue reading...</a>Credit crunchLehman BrothersMarket turmoilWorld newsRecessionUS economic growth and recessionUS newsMon, 15 Sep 2008 14:31:18 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/sep/15/creditcrunch.lehmanbrothersChris Hamnett2008-09-15T14:31:18ZChris Hamnett: The housing market's kick-start? Maybehttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/sep/02/housing.houseprices
The government's stamp duty measures merely extend the safety net: they may not be enough to reinvigorate housebuying<p>All the indicators show that Britain is in the midst of a severe <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/sep/01/housingmarket.houseprices">housing market downturn</a>, similar to that of 1989-94. Turnover has fallen dramatically, with sales volumes down over 50% in a year, <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2008/sep/01/mortgages.property">mortgages lending</a> down 70% from a year ago on Bank of England figures and <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2008/jul/01/houseprices.property">prices down</a> 10% according to the Nationwide Building Society. New house sales have practically ground to a halt, and repossessions are rising rapidly. </p><p>This collapse has taken place very rapidly, aided in large part by the unwillingness or inability of mortgage lenders to lend at the scale they had been doing until the credit crunch hit last August. As more and more mortgage lending was funded by wholesale money rather than by retail deposits, the drying up of wholesale money markets has forced lenders to up rates and tighten lending criteria.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/sep/02/housing.houseprices">Continue reading...</a>HousingHouse pricesCredit crunchHousing marketSocietyUK newsMortgagesPoliticsGordon BrownEconomic policyFirst-time buyersStamp dutyTue, 02 Sep 2008 12:30:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/sep/02/housing.housepricesChris Hamnett2008-09-02T12:30:00ZChris Hamnett: Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and a nightmare on Wall Streethttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/jul/14/stockmarkets.useconomy
Why are governments rescuing banks and institutions whose gung-ho lending triggered the credit crisis?<p>Another day, another stock market slide. Friday saw the Dow fall another 120 points to below 11,000 at its low. The reason is the legacy of the credit crunch and its impact on the US housing market and mortgage institutions. <a href="http://www2.standardandpoors.com/portal/site/sp/en/us/page.topic/indices_csmahp/0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1,1,0,0,0,0,0.html">House prices</a> and turnover have now fallen consistently for almost two years and mortgage defaults have risen sharply. </p><p><a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121599777668249845.html?mod=googlenews_wsj">The fear on Friday</a> was that the two biggest institutions which fund and guarantee mortgages in the US – Fannie Mae (the Federal National Mortgage Association) and the Federal Home Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac) – <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/jul/14/stockmarkets.useconomy">could collapse under the weight of bad mortgage debt</a>. Were this to happen the impact could be immense, not least because they jointly own or guarantee mortgage debt totalling $6tn: half the total US home loans.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/jul/14/stockmarkets.useconomy">Continue reading...</a>US economyBusinessMortgagesMoneyFreddie Mac and Fannie MaeMon, 14 Jul 2008 11:46:44 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/jul/14/stockmarkets.useconomyChris Hamnett2008-07-14T11:46:44ZChris Hamnett: Winners and losers in the education debatehttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/jul/13/education
Schools in rich areas are oversubscribed and do well. Those in poorer areas are crumbling and unpopular. Join the dots<p>In October 2003 then shadow home secretary Oliver Letwin told a Conservative party meeting that: &quot;In Lambeth, where I live, I would give my right arm to send (my children) to a fee-paying school. If necessary I would go out on the streets and beg rather than send them to the school next to where I live.&quot;</p><p>Letwin had to apologise, but there is often a remarkable variation between schools in the same local authority in terms of GCSE performance. Some schools score nearly 100% grades A-C while others score 20% or less. On the face of it, this is astonishing. Why do some schools perform so much better than others, and what can be done about it? </p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/jul/13/education">Continue reading...</a>Education policyEducationPoliticsUK newsSun, 13 Jul 2008 12:00:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/jul/13/educationChris Hamnett2008-07-13T12:00:00ZChris Hamnett: The regeneration gamehttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/jun/11/housing
Gentrification isn't without its problems, but there are enormous benefits too. And who really wants to go back to the urban decline of the 1970s?<p>Is gentrification inevitably a bad thing? Judging by a lot of recent <a href="http://members.lycos.co.uk/gentrification/">academic writing</a> the answer is clearly yes. It is seen as a major cause of working class displacement. The recent Cif piece, <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/may/20/gentrificationnothanks">Gentrification, No Thanks</a>, argued that gentrification is removing affordable housing, driving up house prices in working class urban areas of London and squeezing out the locals. But is gentrification as bad as it is often painted or does it have a positive side?</p><p>To try to answer this question, it is important to put gentrification in context and look back 30 or 40 years to the 1970s. At that time, all the big cities in Britain were undergoing sharp economic decline. Manufacturing industries were disappearing along with large numbers of jobs. Cities were all rapidly losing population to the suburbs and beyond and their inner areas were falling into decline and decay. </p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/jun/11/housing">Continue reading...</a>HousingSocietyEnvironmentUK newsHouse pricesRegenerationGentrificationWed, 11 Jun 2008 12:58:09 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/jun/11/housingChris Hamnett2008-06-11T12:58:09ZRebuilding the house markethttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/may/19/rebuildingthehousemarket
The government is tinkering around at the edges, but the current slump has left its housebuilding targets in ruins<p>It seems from Caroline Flint's <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/may/15/media">cabinet briefing</a> and the government's policy response, that the government is at last beginning to acknowledge the scale of the problem in the housing market rather than denying it exists. This is not before time.</p><p>The housing market in the couple of years up to last summer bore some resemblance to one of the Walt Disney cartoons where the animal runs off the edge of the cliff but its legs keep whirring round in a frenzy of activity until it looks down and realises where it is, dropping like a stone.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/may/19/rebuildingthehousemarket">Continue reading...</a>EconomicsPropertyMon, 19 May 2008 14:30:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/may/19/rebuildingthehousemarketChris Hamnett2008-05-19T14:30:00ZBuy to let - or to lose?http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/may/05/buytoletortolose
The buy-to-let property bubble is likely to have a painful ending for investors who came in at the top of the market<p>The last 10 years have seen a remarkable expansion of private renting in Britain after decades of decline. The change was kicked off by the introduction of <a href="http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/housing/assuredassured">Assured and Shorthold tenancies</a> in the 1988 Housing Act which ensured that landlords could get possession of the property at the end of the agreed rental period. The landlord's nightmare of long term-sitting tenants and inability to get vacant possession was ended.</p><p>The 1988 Act provided the legislative basis, but the growth of buy-to-let landlordism was triggered by the arrival of generous buy-to-let (BTL) mortgages in 1996 just as house prices began to rise after the slump of the early 1990s. This opened up the possibility of small investors buying property to let. And buy they did.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/may/05/buytoletortolose">Continue reading...</a>PropertyHouse pricesMon, 05 May 2008 11:00:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/may/05/buytoletortoloseChris Hamnett2008-05-05T11:00:00ZOwning the pasthttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/apr/15/owningthepast
British governments and homeowners have remarkably short memories: the history of housing in this country is filled with boom and bust<p>Karl Marx once wrote that those who are unaware of history are enslaved by it. Nowhere is this truer than in the British <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/apr/15/economy.housingmarket">home ownership market</a>, where institutional and individual memories seem to be remarkably short term. Go back to summer 2007 and we were in a golden age (for existing owners) of easy loans and seemingly endlessly rising prices. A few commentators did question how long and how far it could go on, but in the rush to try to get on the bottom rung of the ladder before it disappeared, many buyers stretched themselves to the limit and beyond.</p><p>Fast forward to <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2008/apr/15/houseprices.housingmarket">spring 2008</a> and mortgages are in short supply, the number of mortgage advances is down 40% from a year ago and mortgage interest rates and repossession rates are rising sharply as lenders draw in their horns, require much larger deposits and remove some of their generous offers from the market.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/apr/15/owningthepast">Continue reading...</a>Housing marketTue, 15 Apr 2008 12:00:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/apr/15/owningthepastChris Hamnett2008-04-15T12:00:00Z